Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM) Ready to Sponsor NBA

Published By News Desk at October 7, 2016 01:37 pm

In an attempt to reach more millennial audiences, Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) has entered into a contract with the National Basketball Association (NBA). Following the news, the company’s stock price increased and is currently up 0.87% trading at $87 per share.

Drawing a parallel between the motorsports fans and the NBA follower, Matt Bergeron, Vice President of Marketing at Exxon stated: “We’re reaching a younger demographic, a more diverse demographic, we’re reaching a demographic that perhaps is more into social media.” The latest move does not come as a surprise as the oil producer had earlier entered into agreements with the Chinese Basketball Association.

As a result of the multiyear deal, the oil producer’s Mobil 1 brand of synthetic motor oil would be made the conventional motor fuel not only for the NBA but the WNBA as well as of the D-league. Also, the oil company would gain the basketball association’s rights in China that would include promotions in-arena as well as customer hospitability. The company would also break NBA based creative in the Asian country. According to Bloomberg, no financial details pertaining to the sponsorship has been disclosed yet.

Since long, NBA has been putting in efforts to gain a strong foothold in China. Having around 760 million fans of basketball, the sport is immensely popular in the country. As per latest the updates, the New Orleans Pelicans and Houston Rockets are scheduled to play in Shanghai and Beijing this month.

Exxon and sports marketing go a long way back as the company has also entered into agreements with Nascar and Formula 1. With declining oil prices, energy companies are least likely to make any investments or enter into any sponsorship deals as part of their cost-cutting measures, but with companies having deep pockets like Exxon, this does not seem to be the case. The Houston-based company happens to be the largest oil producer by market share globally.